French pilot in 1976 Uganda hijacking dies at 95

FILE - In this July 5, 1976 file photo, head pilot Michel Bacos, center left, is reunited with his wife, 2nd left, and son at Orly Airport near Paris, France, as the 12-member crew of the hijacked Air France Airbus jetliner and 14 passengers return home from Tel Aviv after a week-long stay at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The French pilot of the Air France plane hijacked to Uganda's Entebbe airport in 1976, in which 110 hostages were freed by Israeli commandos, has died at the age of 95. (AP Photo, File)

PARIS – A French pilot who's remembered as a hero for his actions in the 1976 hijacking of an Air France plane to Uganda's Entebbe airport has died at the age of 95.

Michel Bacos was awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, for refusing to leave the plane's passengers after the plane was hijacked and grounded. Some 110 hostages were held in the airport terminal for nearly a week by seven pro-Palestinian hijackers before Israeli commandos freed them.

Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said in a statement Bacos died on Tuesday in the southern French city.

"By refusing with bravery to quit in the face of anti-Semitism and barbary, he honored France", Estrosi said.

Four hostages were killed along with the terrorists.